Harvick bounces back for victory

Posted: Monday, April 04, 2005

By Don CobleMorris News Service

BRISTOL, Tenn. - After losing an appeal this week against NASCAR sanctions and losing his 13th-place starting spot before the Food City 500 at the Bristol Motor Speedway, Kevin Harvick finally won something Sunday - a race.

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With his crew chief sitting at home during a four-race suspension and driving a car that was moved to last on the starting grid after his team changed the power steering pump early Sunday, Harvick drove through all the adversity - both on and off the track - to break a 55-race losing streak.

Harvick, who averaged 77.496 mph, led the final 67 laps at the wicked .533-mile raceway, staying ahead of several crashes and far ahead of second-place Elliott Sadler.

"We approached this week to have fun," Harvick said after giving car owner Richard Childress his first Nextel Cup Series win in almost two years. "When you do that, you can make good things better. I know we always run good here; we just got fortunate enough to win the race."

On Wednesday his team lost an appeal with the National Stock Car Commission on NASCAR's four-race suspension, reduction of 25 points in the standings and a $25,000 fine when crew chief Todd Berrier was caught using a fake gas tank during qualifying at Las Vegas.

On Sunday his team found a puddle of power steering fluid under his GM Goodwrench Chevrolet, prompting a change of the power steering pump. Since the cars were impounded after Friday's qualifying session, he was forced to move to 43rd in the starting lineup.

And if that wasn't enough, he went from third to 13th with 150 laps to go when he was forced to make an unscheduled pit stop to tighten some loose lug nuts.

"We fought a lot of adversity," Harvick said after winning $189,001. "To go through everything we went through this week, do come here and win the race is a lot of fun. You really don't need to say anything about it. I told (wife) DeLana (Saturday night) if nothing goes wrong, we'll win the race."

Harvick wasn't always optimistic about his chances, especially when the car developed problems before the race. But once he got inside the top 20 after just 25 laps, the rest of the race became a statement against what the team felt was unfair punishment.

"Both of us (including Childress) have been beat down pretty good at one point in our career," Harvick said. "It's a huge statement made by our race team today."

Said Childress, "We let his actions today do the speaking. We had to turn it into a positive, and we did that by winning the race."

Asked whether he'd rather win an appeal or a race, Childress never hesitated: "I'll take the race."

Harvick's only scare came on the second lap when he drove through the middle of a five-car crash in the second turn. He was ahead of a 14-car crash with 168 laps and ahead of a three-car pileup that sent cars driven by defending series champion Kurt Busch and Childress teammate Jeff Burton to the junkyard.

He also avoided tire problems that plagued a lot of other contenders. Jeff Gordon had two flats, while Burton, Jamie McMurray, Ricky Rudd, Rusty Wallace, Jeff Green, Jeremy Mayfield, Terry Labonte and Matt Kenseth also had problems.

"Richard was on me pretty hard to save the tires," Harvick said. "I've been here a lot of times and wore my car out. You have to take care of your stuff; choose when it's time to go. It was all about the end, and we were in the right spot."

Sadler was half a straightaway behind the winner, but he was very happy with his finish.

"You have to give it to that 29 bunch (Harvick)," Sadler said. "It seemed like every time he got in trouble he would come back through the pack.

"Any time you come to Bristol, sit on the pole, never run any worse than seventh or eight, not have a scratch on my car and finish second, I'm so proud of my guys. Anytime you get a top-five at Bristol, you've had a great day."

Tony Stewart finished third after Gordon and Kenseth gave up top-five finishes in the final five laps with flat tires, while Dale Earnhardt Jr. was fourth, Dale Jarrett was fifth, Jimmie Johnson was sixth, Travis Kvapil was seventh, Kyle Petty was eighth, Greg Biffle was ninth and Scott Riggs was 10th.

For Petty, his finish was his first top-10 performance in three years.